The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Egypt's beaten women pledge to fight on

Below is a profile by WaPo's Daniel Williams regarding one woman's experience last Wednesday. The story was published on 27 May. I could not locate it on theWaPo website but found it via MSNBC. Williams' profile can be found here.

Raba` Fahmy was one of the women I saw assaulted at the Journalist Syndicate. I have some pictures of her in the middle of a crowd of attackers but it is near-impossible to see what is happening (other than she is trying to get away).

Read her story and forward it. Raba's story is but one of several that are starting to be concisely told.

One of the interesting aspects of these women who were horridly assaulted and beaten is that many Egyptians, relying on the Egyptian press, are not aware of it. Equally, I have received emails from foreigners in Cairo that are surprised to hear of the referendum violence.

When Mohamed commented the other day that it was unclear who was watching the Egyptian scene, I was slightly taken aback. Yet, his point has merit.

All indications point to increasing polarization between the opposition and the state. Many of the female Kifaya activists I have spoken with said that this was not a game and that it was far from over. One email explicitly said, "we will make them pay for what they did."